Towards an ideal system of federal governance: An attempt to develop a prototype fraternal model
- 1998
- p.534-556.
- Jul-Sep
In the context of worldwide support for decentralisation in governance and the growing need to delineate on the broad contours of an ideal system, the author first examines the existing federal systems and finding these highly paternal, he opts for evolving fraternal model. For this purpose, he appraises the approaches advanced in support of centralisation as well as decentralisation and then develops a theoretic model in terms of intra-unit, inter-unit and multi-unit governance. The basic idea advanced in this regard is that tasks that can be carried out at a lower level jurisdiction should not be assigned to a higher level. The author suggests empowering primary units to raise their own resources commensurate with the tasks allocated and recommends sharing of entitlements in place of grants-in-aid in the event of problems in assignment of elastic tax bases. He also examines in brief the federal relations in India and suggests a paradigm shift suiting the genius and ethos of our people. - Reproduced
Public administration - India Federalism - India Federalism